Double-click shapefile or file GDB in Windows Explorer opens ArcGIS Pro/ArcMap/ArcCatalog and displays data.

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06-15-2010 07:12 AM
Status: Open
DavidWheelock
Occasional Contributor III

This seems like it ought to be a very small task and very helpful.

Please register ArcGIS Pro (ArcMap or ArcCatalog) in the Windows registry as the application to open if you double-click on a ".shp" shapefile or file geodatabase icon in Windows Explorer (or My Computer, as it is often called.)  And enable ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap and ArcCatalog to open and display a shapefile if it is used as a command line parameter.  Perhaps you could make this a configurable setting, so that the user can select whether they want Pro, ArcMap or ArcCatalog as the default.

There's only been one ESRI app to ever actually do this.  That was ArcExplorer 2.0.  However, ESRI has deprecated this product and you can't find it on their website anymore.  I still install it on my computers from my local copy, so that I can have a quick view of a shapefile if I'm browsing a disk in Windows Explorer and I don't want to take the time to go find and start up Pro/ArcMap/ArcCatalog.